NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Short Interest Update

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,220,000 shares, a decrease of 21.4% from the February 28th total of 7,910,000 shares. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,950,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NTAP. Loop Capital lowered their price target on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $129.07.

Remove Ads

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP traded down $3.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $77.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 444,232 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,862,223. The stock's 50-day moving average is $106.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $116.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.71 billion, a PE ratio of 14.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. NetApp has a one year low of $74.83 and a one year high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is 38.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Anders Gustafsson bought 2,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $91.00 per share, with a total value of $254,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,348 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $577,668. This trade represents a 78.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 451 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total transaction of $52,672.29. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573 over the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 826.9% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in NetApp by 929.6% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc provides cloud-led and data-centric services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. It operates in two segments, Hybrid Cloud and Public Could. The company offers intelligent data management software, such as NetApp ONTAP, NetApp Snapshot, NetApp SnapCenter Backup Management, NetApp SnapMirror Data Replication, NetApp SnapLock Data Compliance, and storage infrastructure solutions, including NetApp All-Flash FAS series, NetApp Fabric Attached Storage, NetApp E/EF series, and NetApp StorageGRID.